The past few weeks have been hectic, long, stressful and exhausting. I have had a bunch of "home life" stuff going on and that's why I haven't been facebooking or blogging. I am the type of person who hates chaos and craziness. Since I can't avoid the chaos that comes along with life, I choose to avoid any and all things that I can avoid. I love facebook and blogging but I am not addicted to it. Especially facebook, so it's always the first to go. Even on a good day, as much as I love writing, blogging, and facebooking, I just hate sitting at my desk. I have been writing, I just haven't had the time to complete or edit a post.
So school started on August 15th for us. It's been going as smooth as it can go. I leave in the morn around 7:30 to get Anthony to school (like 10 miles from my house) I can't drop Isabella off at school till 8:30 and it only takes me 10 min to get from Anthony's school to hers. So every morn I have to kill 30-45 min. It is a huge waste of gas for me to drive back home. I am already spending $80-$100 in gas a week just taking my kids to school and doing the shopping. I get back by 9 and I have already spent 2 hours just bringing 2 kids to school. On Mon, Wed and Fri, my plan is to meet Ashley at 9 to walk 4 miles. We get done around 10:30 ish and I am back home by 11 at the latest. We have only done this a few times since we are both trying to get into a sched since our kids are finally both in school. On Tues. and Thurs. my plan is to walk Old Toxaway Road solo. I did it for the first time this morn.
Isabella has to be picked up at 2pm, no later and Anthony doesn't get out until 3:15pm. This means I have to leave the house at 1:30 to get to her school by 2, then I have a whole hour to kill. I run errands, or go to Ashley's or we take the kids to the playground. We get home by 3:30. That's 2 more hours wasted picking kids up. 4 hours of my day is taken up by this. I shop on Fri or Mon right after I drop Isabella off at school. The stores are all within just a few miles from her school. So literally that $80-$100 in gas is spent on trips back and forth to school...WTF?? I am left with 4.5 hours to get chores done, walk, or whatever...blog and FB lol If I walk, that leaves me with 2.5 hours! Last week we had 4 dentist appts. So that was even more trips back and forth.
I have been trying to catch up on things I didn't get done over the summer since both kids were home all day and we spent a lot of time chillin in the pool and not doing chores. I am doing my best to figure out a plan and sched that works for me, one that I can work with and allows me to get everything done and stay on top of things as much as I can. I'll get there eventually, it's my goal and I usually accomplish whatever I set out to do.
Some of you are already familiar with Isabella's struggles. I have a note on FB but it's more like a rant lol I am working on a blog post about her so look out for that. For those of you who don't know, Isabella is developmentally delayed. It's a complicated diagnosis. The best way to explain it in short terms is that she basically has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). When a child shows some (very few) characteristics of Autism but not enough to diagnose them as Autistic, they are diagnosed as developmentally delayed. This qualifies her to be "special needs" and she goes to a school that specializes in this. She should be on track and at level for kindergarten. If she still shows signs of delays, she will be re-evaluated but they say that they can't come up with a proper long term diagnosis till she is 8. Her delays are mostly with behavior, communication, cognitive, some sensory, self care etc. She is not delayed academically and this has caused a lot of confusion when I use the term "delayed" in away way.
I will get more into all of that in my post about her. For now I am only bringing it up because she has been a serious issue the past few weeks. This is her second year at this school, she loves it. She has made so much progress in the past year and a half. All of the sudden she is reverting back to old bad habits. She is also starting new behaviors that are unpleasant to say the least. More than anything though it makes getting through a day with her both frustrating and stressful.
A few of these things include her being clingy, which she has never been. She has a bit of separation anxiety both at home and at school and she has never had an issue with that. She is purposely withholding poop. She has been peeing all over the house, in her closet, in toy bins, pulling out her desk drawers and peeing in them. Throwing fits has become an issue that I thought we were over. Eating has been an issue I thought we were over. Getting out of her car seat had been an issue I also thought we were over. There are a few more things too but these are the wrost of them. I had to have a talk with her teacher this morn. I am fully aware that when a child exhibits behaviors like this that it can mean something is going on with them, that there is some kind of problem or stress in their lives. Nothing has been going on at home and her school is really top notch and her head teacher Miss Heather is just amazing. I am keeping a watchful eye on this whole situation but I am really thinking this is just a phase. Some of Isabella's problems have been with transitions and change, and this is a new school year and she has a few new teachers and all the kids in her class are new except 1 from last year. We are only 4 weeks in so I am hoping she will adjust to all the new things in her life soon. In the meantime, I am paying close attention to all that goes on and just working with her.
So these have been big issues for me, ones that I have no relief from and no way to get rid of them. They are time consuming, frustrating and exhausting. If there is one thing about me that is 100% true, it's that I have my priorities straighter than anyone I know and I will drop things that shouldn't be at the top of my priority list. I have done it before and I will do it again if needed. My kids, my Husband, my dog, our house, my health and my sanity come first and pretty much in that order lol I know you have all missed me and my posts. I have missed it too and I am on the fast track to getting back into it!
